Alice Twilight
This article is about the No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle character. For the character in Killer Is Dead, see Alice. "You've heard about two of the supernatural gateways in Santa Destroy. The third led to the most fitting mystery of all for a city fixated on the ranks. Sealed from the cacophony of modern life, there lived the last Ascetic. Abstaining from all worldly indulgences, the Ascetic spent every waking hour in training. Battle had become an obsession for this warrior. The end-all, the raison d'etre. You know, I've never abstained from anything. Still, I can relate. When you're so focused on any goal, it can make you blind, to what you truly desire." --Sylvia Christel on Alice'' Alice Twilight (アリス・トワイライト, Arisu Towairaito) is a character in the video game No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. She is the second-ranked assassin in the reformed United Assassins Association. Desperate to escape the ranks of the UAA, Twilight becomes ascetic and pursues her own spiritual resolution within the third Akashic Point, a portal which Travis Touchdown passes through to confront her atop an apartment building. Twilight is one of five Desperate Struggle bosses to appear in No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise. Story As Sylvia Christel recounts with Touchdown at Heaven's Smile, Twilight is obsessed with combat and devotes herself to training. Touchdown encounters Twilight atop an apartment building inside the third Akashic Point, where she is using a bonfire in a waste bin to burn photographs. Welcoming him, Twilight details her weariness of a neverending life of violence and threats in the shadows of the everyday world, and explains how assassins have become pawns of the UAA and are unable to escape its ranks, save for Touchdown who had no qualms about retiring from the organization three years prior. Relaying to her why she doesn't just "fucking quit", Alice admits of her and everyone's awe and admiration of Travis' ascension to the top, and subtly hints of her bittersweet addiction to fighting, the allure of Travis' journey prior and what he has gained, and her abandonment of everything to seek out what the No More Hero has found. Their fight begins with declaring that Travis "free them all in a crimson sea". The two assassins do battle, and upon her defeat Touchdown asks for Twilight's name, a request he made once before in his bout with Holly Summers. Touchdown makes an oath not to forget Twilight, prompting her to smile and fall forward into his beam katana, vertically bisecting her and coating Touchdown in her blood. Like the deaths of Summers and Ryuji before her, Twilight's demise greatly affects Touchdown's attitude towards Christel and the UAA. When confronted by Christel after the Ranking Battle, Touchdown argues everything about the UAA Twilight spoke out against, becoming so angry he fails to notice when his beam katana burns Christel's hand. He then declares to become a hero by his own standards, treat assassins as human beings and overthrow the UAA. Twilight's past is unclear, however the pictures she burns prior to battling Touchdown imply she was once married and had a child, and that she has some acquaintanceship with assassin Margaret Moonlight. An interview with SUDA51 confirmed that Alice and Margaret are sisters.テンポの良さ，爽快感，そしてバカバカしさ。「NO MORE HEROES 2 DESPERATE STRUGGLE」. 大陸新秩序. 4Gamer. October 21, 2010 Appearance and personality Twilight has pink hair and wears a black bodysuit covering her arms, back and neck, as well as black gloves, a bikini top and pink shorts with black leggings and high-heeled boots. Christel describes Twilight as being obsessed with training and fighting, which has lead her to renounce all her possessions to become the best in her trade. Much like Summers, Twilight is a serious individual with a realistic and honorable attitude, despite her occupation, and she has no fear of death. Despite her obsession with combat, Twilight is seen as being weary and repulsed by how the UAA treats its assassin clientele; this resonates with Touchdown who feels similarly exploited by his agent, Christel. Twilight holds an utmost respect for Touchdown for being able to retire from the UAA, something she professes no other assassin is capable of doing before meeting death. However, she admits she would have rather encountered him after she achieved Rank 1, so that maybe she could've discovered his secret of walking away from the world of being an assassin. Powers and abilities Twilight's weapon is the ASURA-6, a back-mounted machine with six arm-like appendages in a hexagonal pattern; all six store a pink beam katana, with the lowest appendage capable of lifting her off the ground or alternatively being used as a tail-like weapon. The beam katanas housed by the device can also be launched as projectiles, with the ASURA-6 capable of regenerating the beams rather quickly, she can fire her beam katanas when her tail raises her off the ground. When she is on foot, she uses each of her beam katanas to perform spinning melee slashes. Twilight appears to control the appendages of the ASURA-6 using her arms. She is also shown to be very agile, and capable of performing backflips and dodges very quickly. When Twilight wins Weapon Clashes against Touchdown, she uses her lowest beam katana appendage to puncture Touchdown from the side and raise him into the air, before violently slamming him into the ground. She then replies, "No more time for games." Quotes * "Travis Touchdown, correct?" * "How unfortunate... Right when I'm about to reach the top, you have to find me..." * "I was hoping we'd fight after I became Number 1." * "Please, don't think of me as a nuisance. But I will make sure your victory isn't easy. My pride as the second rank requires that much." * "I've seen a lot in my journey up the ranks. An endless cycle of violence, now broadcast as a spectator sport..." * "Why Travis? Why do so many assassins join, if we're all going to end up killing each other in the end?" * "To me it does. It matters more than anything." * "We've all become trapped, don't you see? Addicted to the violence, to a life in the shadows." * "Once we join the ranks, we can never get out." * "But that's why we all want to fight you, to learn your secret. Don't you get it?" * "You are the Crownless King, the one who got out. You reached the top, then walked away." * "With you it's different! You're the No More Hero!" * "Show me your passion! Release me from this cycle! Free us all in a crimson sea!" * "You inspire me!" * "Travis, you are incredible! Everything I hoped for." * "Promise me you won't forget... There once was an assassin named Alice." Cultural references * Alice Twilight and Margaret Moonlight's surnames may be allusions to Twilight Syndrome and Moonlight Syndrome, video games SUDA51 wrote and directed under Human Entertainment. Her first name likely alludes to the popular tale of Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, and her own trip down the "rabbit's hole". * Alice bares a strong resemblance to the Kingdom Hearts character Marluxia. She also bears a resemblance to Capcom's Final Fight's Poison. * Ashuras are a fanatical tier of deities found in Hindu and Buddhist mythology, most popularly known as multi-limbed and faced beings common in popular fiction, but are known in their respective religions as belligerent, indulgent, and materialistically inclined beings, notable for their anger, harsh temperaments and ignorance, ranking above humans yet lacked the means to have truly incarnated as devas and Bodhisattvas, seeking transcendent power and enlightenment through their own methods. Being born as an Ashura is also seen as one of the four unhappy births in Buddhist thought, representative of a human being driven by anger, always seeking violence, addicted to force and power, and incapable of making peaceful solutions and answers; despite their rankings above humankind, the fate of being born an Ashura is considered a path of suffering worse than human life, their lives always filled with neverending carnage and constant conflict. Considering the series' own focus on ultraviolence, assassins, and unrestrained fighting to the death, Alice may symbolically represent these demi-godly beings, considering her rank in the UAA, her weapon of choice, extraordinary combat skills, her outlook on life, and the ascetics training she has taken before her fight with Travis. Trivia * In the North American version of Desperate Struggle, the UAA leaderboard misreports Alice's surname to be "Moonlight." This was corrected in the European release of the game. * Twilight is similar to Summers in a number of ways. Neither fears death, each ask Touchdown never to forget them and in a relaxed manner both deliver Touchdown speeches about their principles of life. Additionally, each character's death has a significant impact on Touchdown's demeanor thereon. * Twilight was the first original Desperate Struggle character revealed to the press, when she and Touchdown appeared in the game's Tokyo Game Show 2008 teaser trailer. * While several previous assassins' deaths such as Summers and Bad Girl could have understandably done so but did not, Twilight is the only character whose blood actually coats Touchdown. It is unclear if there is philosophical significance in this or if it is merely an aesthetic technique (or possibly both). * Both Twilight and Copeland have addressed Touchdown as the "Crownless King". Coincidentally, Copeland is the second boss in Desperate Struggle whereas Twilight is the second to last. References Category:Assassins Category:Bosses in No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle Category:Characters in No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle Category:Females Category:United Assassins Association